Simple Changes For A Cleaner Home

I want to do everything I can to create a healthy and happy home for my family. I know you do, too. We can’t control everything, obviously, but we do have the freedom to make choices about what products come into our home. Just like the tile we choose or the color of our cabinets, little things matter to how we feel in our home.

Yesterday I shared potentially hidden toxins in everyday products many of us may have under our sinks and in our cabinets. As I mentioned, I use the Think Dirty app and EWG.org as a starting point for researching because they are easy to access and share lots of information. Both have their faults and likely don’t get everything right. They don’t always rate products in the same way, so each of the apps may miss or mislead in important information about certain ingredients. They may not address the unknown risks of combinations of toxins, or break down how these risks may apply or not apply our situation. Nevertheless, I find the information interesting.

But here’s an important take away. Don’t get stuck worrying about how you’d ever study enough or ever be able to understand each ingredient in your products. Don’t start fearing all products! On the other end of the spectrum for some folks, even if you don’t think toxins are worth worrying about, at least be sensitive to those want or need to know the truth about what they bring into their homes.

The bottom line for me is I just want to focus on simple and positive changes can I make in my own home, right now, with the information I have.

I am not likely going to change the world today, or ever know how to fix every problem, but I can give a little more thought to what I want to spray on my countertops or put on my face. Keep things simple.

You know me, I always try to tell you what products I use and how I come to conclusions about any changes I make in my home. I offer my opinion in case it helps you narrow options or interests you to know, but not everything I have will work for you or even be right for you. Information we learn about products can change in time too, too, so that’s why I recommend learning how to research and keep up with current studies so you can make the best possible choices for your family. Consult professionals where appropriate, whether that be an electricians or a physician!

Here is a quick list of possible ingredients/chemicals to research if you are interested (this isn’t to scare anyone, this is just intended to be helpful for those who want to learn) :

parabens

fragrance (phthalates)

dyes

phosphates

triclosan

ammonia

sodium lauryl sulfate/sodium laureth sulfate

flame retardants

Whether a toxic chemical in a product poses a real and known risk, or an unlikely one, the bottom line for our family is we don’t feel the NEED to use harsh products in our home. We can make changes over time. It’s really that simple.

We don’t need to be lathering them on our body as lotions, breathing them in our air for scents, or using them to clean our home. We personally feel there are better alternatives we can use in our home. Do we still have questionable or unstudied products in our house? Yep, but we are working our way through our home, evaluating what is beneficial and working on making better choices going forward.

What better choices might be for your family obviously won’t need to mirror the ones we made in our home. But I would love to learn from your experience, too! I think most of us can probably agree that simplifying the consumption of unnecessary chemicals and redefining our definition of what is actually clean isn’t a bad idea, though.

Check out the DIY shower spray we posted here and some other DIY ideas, below.

Today I will share a few simple changes we’ve made in our own home.

Even though it is sometimes hard to know who or what to trust when it comes to products, a product our own family would feel safest with would be as close to its “natural state” as possible, like a plant or one derived from a healthy plant.

And then because we don’t often grow plants to make products ourselves, we’d want to purchase from a company if we trust their commitment to quality. We would more likely trust a company when we know they use responsible methods for farming and processes.

Responsible farming doesn’t always mean you will see an “organic label” on a product. It’s about the actual organic soil the plants grew in, the process by which a farmer grows their plants and the commitment a company has to protecting the quality and purity of their products.

Yes, that all takes a little research to figure it all out, but for our family I find any effort is worth it for the confidence we can have in trusting the products going forward.

I think even if we can take a small step in a healthier home, it’s better than never taking a step towards wellness at all. Moderation and commonsense are good steps and guidelines, too.

Below you’ll find just a few of the actual products we use in our home these days. Again, this is just what we use. You may have other products that serve your family well and these may not be right for you. The important thing is that we do have a choice when it comes to what is in our products.

All products may not be perfect, but some are clearly better than others. Baby steps are better than no steps at all!

SIMPLE NON-TOXIC WAYS TO CLEAN:

If you are a DIY’er or want to be one, you can start with a couple of base cleaning products and combine them in different ways for your family.

We like unscented Dr. Bronner’s soap, which can be ordered in many stores or online here. It’s a great base product on its own (it comes in scented options as well!).

What could be easier than cleaning with baking soda? It’s not fancy, but you can jazz up the scent with a drop of your favorite essential oil.

BETTER HEALTH WITH PURE ESSENTIAL OILS

You can even get creative with your DIY or simple household products by incorporating various plant-based scents from pure essential oils to your unscented soaps and cleaners to make them not only smell great, but have added health benefits.

Essential oils come from plants and have been used safely for thousands of years. The reason my family uses Young Living essential oils is because we have researched their farms and their commitment to quality. Their products really help–not harm–our family. I wouldn’t buy just any “essential oil” off the internet or off a gift store shelf just because it came in a cute bottle or was a cheap price. Even ones that may be marked “pure or natural” could have fillers and additives or compromised components or the plants could come from unknown sources. Just like any other product, even with “natural products” you’ve got to trust the source.

Essential oils not only offer a way to add fresh scent to cleaners, facial washes, and home diffusers, but unlike harmful chemicals found in most scented products, these plant-based oils actually work with the body in a natural way (not against it) to support physical and emotional wellness, our immune and endocrine systems and other systems in the body to function as they should. Essential oils are fascinating to study as well.

** You can find many of the plant-based products we use for cleaning, personal care and wellness at wholesale pricing through Young Living here. **

We use several Thieves Essential Oil products in our home. Thieves is a Young Living proprietary blend of clove, rosemary, cinnamon bark, lemon and eucalyptus radiata. They have several convenient products for the home that smell great, clean amazingly well, too.

I love using the dishwashing detergent and soap.

A bottle of Thieves cleaner is versatile, concentrated product that you can mix with water. A 14oz bottle costs $22 per bottle BUT it makes 29 (TWENTY-NINE) bottles of non-toxic cleaner! That comes out to 75 cents per bottle of cleaner! HELLO, what a bargain! Far cheaper than the toxic stuff, friends. I no longer buy all those speciality (and often toxic) cleaning products because I find Thieves does a great job on so many tasks.

A few simple ways to use Thieves Household Cleaner:

Clean your countertops and sinks: Fill a spray bottle with 1 capful of Thieves cleaner and 3 1/2 cups water. Do a patch test on your counter first, just to make sure.

Clean the inside of your toilet: Use half a capful of Thieves Cleaner with 1/4 cup baking soda and clean with a toilet brush.

Clean wood and tile floors: Combine 2 capfuls of Thieves household cleaner with 1 gallon warm water. Apply evenly to floors with a damp (not wet) mop. To be safe, test a small out of the way area first.

Clean fabrics and rugs. I use Thieves to clean our fabrics, leather and rugs. Again, do a patch test first to make sure!

We used to carry those unhealthy hand sanitizers, chemical-laden “health” products and artificially scented products with us everywhere we went. Many hand sanitizers appear to actually kill good bacteria and can lower your resistance to disease. That’s the opposite of what we want.

Now we bring along plant-based products, like Thieves hand purifiers and sprays and we make our own wellness and body scents in glass roller bottles. It’s pretty fun to make your own roller blends with actual plant-based scents (we share some of our blend ideas on our Pure & Lovely Instagram or with the hashtag #pureandlovelyrollers).

No more artificially scented or toxic dryer sheets or yucky products on our clothes. We use Thieves laundry detergent, and we often use these reusable wool dryer balls from Amazon with a few drops of Young Living essential oils to make our laundry truly clean and fresh.

Don’t even get me started on products we use on our skin, like make up, toothpaste or what we use on our lips! We’ve ditched so many products we used to use in favor of these simple clean natural ones. We are cleaning out the toxic products from every drawer and cabinet in our house!

As far as scenting our home, we almost exclusively use our essential oil diffusers now as opposed to candles. We love that we are scenting our home while also receiving health benefits, rather than breathing in who knows what. And Young Living’s essential oils smell amazing so we don’t even miss the toxic chemical scents. When we do use candles however, we try to choose ones that are made with 100% soy or beeswax with a cotton wick (no paraffin), like this candle we have for example. We also make easy DIY room sprays which I shared an example of here.

As a reminder, what we EAT and the food we bring into our home is very important to us too, which I shared here.

I’ll have more products, DIY cleaning recipes and tips to share in future posts!

You can find many of the plant-based products we use for cleaning, personal care, cosmetics and wellness at wholesale pricing here.

Comments

Hi Margaret! I just placed a Grove order yesterday! I love Grove and use many of their products.

Like anywhere else I shop, I am selective about what products I use. Over time some products may need further investigation before I will use them or in other cases I just found something I like better for whatever reason.

Hi Maureen, we have a vet on our team who is so helpful in understanding how to use oils around cats! Lots of our members have cats. If you’d like to give oils a try (there’s a link in this post https://theinspiredroom.net/how-to-order-essential-oils/) I’ll definitely connect you to the resources that will help you use them with confidence! Let me know if you have any questions!

I am wondering what you use on your kitchen counters…they look to be marble. I have marble countertops and know they are VERY sensitive. Most natural cleaners are too acidic for marble (vinegar, lemon, etc).

Gail, you might try just microfiber cloths on your counters. You can just use water and it will wipe away dirt and bacteria. I use ( and sell) Norwex microfiber. It changed the way I do housework. It is safe for all materials. Have a blessed week.

Thanks for your examples, Melissa. I’m a little stuck because while i’d like to get chemical-free cleaners for everything, sometimes the pure stuff can be expensive. My compromise is to use Mrs. Meyers products for most everything (I checked ewg.com that you mentioned and that brand seemed ok) and clean as much as I can with vinegar and baking soda. It’s a little more complicated for things like shampoo, toothpaste, etc. But i’m working on it. I was able to find a paraben free body wash that we love at Costco and we’ve been using that for a start.

I have multiple chemical sensitivities. I began using essential oils and replacing commercial cleaning products about 8 months ago. I make my own dishwasher detergent, dryer balls and deodorant but have yet to tackle laundry detergent or toothpaste. The homemade soft scrub works better than anything I have ever bought for the sinks and tub. I use cocoanut oil for basically everything skin and hair related. Every little bit of natural product helps, right?

Agreed! Seems like that would create a very serious slip hazard on tile, especially. Then the oil might attract and hold dust/dirt/dog hair to the point you can’t vaccuum it up nicely. Never heard about putting g olive oil on the floor. Please elaborate!

When my third kid came into the world, I started looking at this because I actually put off coming because I didn’t want to use harsh chemicals and I didn’t like making my own cleaners. Norwex microfiber came into my life then and I haven’t looked back. I have several friends who use the Thieves with Microfiber as well.

just for you (and your readers) Melissa – I cleaned my windows for spring yesterday. I only ever use hot water, vinegar and a little liquid soap – like you use for dishes. Add an e-cloth and that’s it. When washed, it will take you a few seconds to dry the glass with paper. (Newspaper scrunched up works a treat, but a sheet or two of kitchen paper will work just as well….. sparkling finish, I promise!

Please tell me where you source your glass spray bottles! I make my own cleaners using a combination of Dr. Bronner’s, vinegar and essential oils already! Love that you can tailor your cleaning supplies to your own needs and preferences!

Hello. There is some great information here. Thank you. The only thing I have to say is that using Vinegar and Baking soda together is counter-productive. They cancel each other out. It’s useless to use them at the same time. I’m not a scientist, but I do know that together the product turns into just salt water. It doesn’t do anything to help clean. :-(